The following is the history of Lowell, Massachusetts: 1605: On June 17, French explorer Sieur De Mont discovers the Merrimack River.
What happened in Lowell Massachusetts in history?
During the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979), the city took in an influx of refugees, leading to a Cambodia Town and America’s second largest Cambodian-American population. Lowell is home to two institutions of higher education.
What was Lowell Massachusetts famous for?
Lowell is perhaps best known for its mills. Colloquially known as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, many history books make mention of the Lowell “mill girls” who helped churn out textiles.
Why was Lowell Massachusetts important in the 19th century?
By the mid-19th century Lowell had become one of the country’s major industrial cities; it was called the “spindle city” and the “Manchester of America” because of its large textile industries.
Why was Lowell Massachusetts important to early industrialization?
Francis Cabot Lowell and his circle of Boston friends were the first to improve upon the design and organization of the early New England textile mills. Lowell’s Boston Manufacturing Company was producing cloth by 1815, utilizing power looms he had developed after observing similar machines in British factories.
What caused Lowell to start to decline?
Decline. Economic instability in the 1830s as well as immigration greatly affected the Lowell mills. Overproduction during the 1830s caused the price of finished cloth to drop and the mills’ financial situation was exacerbated by a minor depression in 1834 and the Panic of 1837.
What was invented in Lowell MA?
Moxie, an early soft drink, was invented in Lowell in the 1870s. Around 1880, Lowell became the first city in America to have telephone numbers.
What Indians lived in Lowell MA?
The area along the Merrimack River that we define as Lowell was home to the Pennacook people. Just to the south were the Massachusett, who were direct trading partners with the Pennacook.
Who built the Lowell canals?
The Lowell Power Canal System is the largest power canal system in the United States, at 5.6 miles in length.
Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse.
| Built | 1821 |
| Architect | Nathan Appleton, Kirk Boott |
| NRHP reference No. | 76001972 |
| Significant dates | |
|---|---|
| Added to NRHP | August 13, 1976 |
What did Lowell mills produce?
Cotton cloth
Cotton cloth was always Lowell’s major product. But from its earliest years, the mills turned out a variety of textile goods. The Middlesex Company, for instance, manufactured woolen cloth. The Lowell Manufacturing Company was a leading producer of carpets.
How much money did mill girls make?
On average, the Lowell mill girls earned between three and four dollars per week. The cost of boarding ranged between seventy-five cents and $1.25, giving them the ability to acquire good clothes, books, and savings.
What was life like for a Lowell girl?
Difficult Factory Conditions
These women worked in very sub-par conditions, upwards of 70 hours a week in grueling environments. The air was very hot in these rooms that were full of machines that generated heat, the air quality was poor, and the windows were often closed.
Why was the Lowell System bad?
The End of the Lowell System: Overproduction during the 1830s caused the price of finished cloth to drop. In response, the mills cut wages and increased work duties, forcing the workers to work harder at a faster pace.
How did the Lowell System affect America?
The Lowell System was not only more efficient but was also designed to minimize the dehumanizing effects of industrial labor by paying in cash hiring young adults instead of children offering employment for only a few years and by providing educational opportunities to help workers move on to better jobs such as …
When did the Lowell System end?
The arrival of the Irish in Lowell, beginning in 1846, also contributed substantially to the demise of the Lowell System of Labor. With unskilled labor available and willing to work for low wages, the system was no longer needed. By the 1850s the Lowell System was a failed experiment.
Why did the Lowell Mills end?
The wartime demand for labor seemed to bring an end to the depression in Lowell that had begun with the mill closings in 1926. Wages shot upward.
Who were the first settlers of Lowell?
Louis Bergeron family becomes the first recorded French-Canadian family to settle in Lowell.
Who invented the cotton gin?
While Eli Whitney is best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin, he was also the father of the mass production method. In 1798, he figured out how to manufacture muskets by machine so that the parts were interchangeable. It was as a manufacturer of muskets that Whitney finally became rich. He died in 1825.
What did the Massachusett tribe wear?
Wampanoag women wore knee-length skirts. Wampanoag men wore breechcloths with leggings. Neither women nor men had to wear shirts in the Wampanoag culture, but they would dress in deerskin mantles during cool weather. The Wampanoags also wore moccasins on their feet.
Who lived in Massachusetts before the Pilgrims?
the Wampanoag people
The native inhabitants of the region around Plymouth Colony were the various tribes of the Wampanoag people, who had lived there for some 10,000 years before the Europeans arrived.
Where did the Massachusett tribe live?
Boston
The area around Boston was occupied by the Massachusett, the Nipmuck to the west, and Wampanoag to the south. The Massachusett tribe, which gave its name to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lived on land that stretched from about Scituate in the south to Cape Ann in the north and west to Concord.